In 'Grand National' terms, the field in the Coca-Cola Championship haven't even crossed the Melling Road for the final time yet.
Little wonder then that Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Glenn Hoddle has not even begun to crane his neck in the direction of the winning post.
Hoddle's pre-match team talks this season have done more to promote the world's greatest steeplechase than even the most imaginative National Hunt marketing man, given his almost constant likening of the Championship's tortuous promotion race to two laps round Aintree.
But, ahead of tomorrow's latest obstacle, the Molineux meeting with struggling Sheffield Wednesday, Hoddle has not yet decided whether his in-form string are aiming for sixth, fifth or higher still.
With that sixth place in mind, Hoddle yesterday let young striker Leon Clarke go on loan to Plymouth Argyle, which should mean a home debut against sixth-placed Preston North End tomorrow. "He won't be allowed to play against us for Plymouth next week, but it would certainly be nice if he went and got the winner against Preston this weekend," said Hoddle.
"The main thing about this promotion race is that it's still immaterial for the moment just h o w many points you're going to need. You're just not sure which games are going to turn out more important than any other.
"Everyone says we're just aiming for sixth but Crystal Palace are still talking about catching Sheffield United for the second automatic place, even though they're eight points adrift. So, with us eight points behind Palace, why shouldn't we still be able to close the gap on them?
"If we're going to do that, it's only going to happen at the death but we've also got to look behind us. I fancy Cardiff are still involved and even Coventry and Norwich, too, if they win their next two.
"But, at this stage of the season, winning is all that counts. If you lose two, that puts a different perspective on it and games like ours against Sheffield Wednesday are not easy.
"We've dropped points against teams like this before this season. They're fighting for their lives but we're coming into this one in good form. All we can do is just concentrate on reproducing the sort of performance we did against Cardiff a fortnight ago."
While Clarke [2014] whose loan move to Queens Park Rangers was cut short last month [2014] has moved to the other end of the Championship table, two more Wolves youngsters made deadline-day loan switches.
Winger Lewis Gobern has moved to Bury, while reserve midfielder Kevin O'Connor has joined another lowly League Two outfit, Stockport County.
